Super Power takes Long Beach pole
Will Power starts Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach from pole position after dominating qualifying on the famous street course which hosts round four of the IndyCar Series
Such was the extent of the Australian Penske driver's advantage that he was the only person in a position to risk saving a set of unused red-walled option tyres for the final dash for pole in the Firestone Fast Six.
That set of tyres allowed Power to record an extraordinary lap of 1m09.3185s - more than four tenths faster than fellow front row starter Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The Andretti Autosport man claimed that had he had access to a set of stickered reds he might have been closer to Power, but in truth the points leader had been quickest in all sessions and his Group time on the prime tyres was only 0.2s slower than Hunter-Reay's Fast Six lap.
"We have the car figured out at the moment," said Power, whose only point of alarm occured when he drove down the escape road at Turn 9 during the top 12 session. "It was important [to save the stickers], it was a good chance to get the pole.
"If you are quick enough you have to take the risk. But then the blacks were fast too, they take longer to warm up but they are good.
"Now we have got to get the strategy right," he added, mindful perhaps that he lost a potential third consecutive win to a three-stop plan last time out in Barber. "Sometimes it's hard to read those yellows, but we have got to keep executing it in the races."
Hunter-Reay took solace from the fact that he expected to have a good race car after a strong performance through the first two days. Justin Wilson expressed a similar view after qualifying his Dreyer & Reinbold machine a competitive third.
"Feels good, the car was working well," he said. "I'm not sure how to find another four tenths, but it's one of the best cars I've had at Long Beach, on any other day we'd have been on pole!"
Helio Castroneves was fourth fastest ahead of Ryan Briscoe, making it three Penskes in the top five, while Tony Kanaan - who twice had to use the escape road at Turn 1 during qualifying, completed the top six.
Alex Tagliani, carrying an injury to his left wrist sustained in a practice crash on Friday when he caught his hand in the paddle shift, placed seventh, and joined Briscoe in bumping Ganassi ace Scott Dixon from a Fast Six spot at the end of the top 12 shoot-out.
Marco Andretti, ninth, was another unfortunate not to progress after a strong run.
Dan Wheldon took 10th spot ahead of Hideki Mutoh and Dario Franchitti who brought a disappointing day to a close with 12th on the grid having reportedly brushed the wall on his quick lap.
Simona de Silvestro once again starts as fastest rookie in 13th position, and will also start as fastest woman - Danica Patrick qualified a lowly 20th.
Milka Duno did not take part in qualifying. The Venezuelan was 11 seconds off the pace in the morning's free practice session.
Round 1 Group 1
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m10.1233s 2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m10.1816s +0.0583s 3. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m10.1856s +0.0623s 4. Alex Tagliani FAZZT 1m10.2228s +0.0995s 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m10.2439s +0.1206s 6. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m10.3564s +0.2331s 7. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m10.3722s +0.2489s 8. Mario Moraes KV 1m10.5093s +0.3860s 9. EJ Viso KV 1m10.5991s +0.4758s 10. Takuma Sato KV 1m10.7000s +0.5767s 11. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 1m10.8003s +0.6770s 12. Mario Romancini Conquest 1m10.9914s +0.8681s 13. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 1m11.4345s +1.3112s
Round 1 Group 2
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Will Power Penske 1m09.9270s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m09.9322s +0.0052s 3. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m09.9772s +0.0502s 4. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m10.0055s +0.0785s 5. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1m10.0433s +0.1163s 6. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m10.1676s +0.2406s 7. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m10.4259s +0.4989s 8. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.4586s +0.5316s 9. Raphael Matos de Ferran/Luczo Dragon 1m10.5068s +0.5798s 10. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m10.5503s +0.6233s 11. Graham Rahal Fisher 1m10.7722s +0.8452s 12. Milka Duno Dale Coyne no time
Round 2
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Will Power Penske 1m09.5469s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m09.5815s + 0.0346s 3. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m09.7446s + 0.1977s 4. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m09.7656s + 0.2187s 5. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m09.7909s + 0.2440s 6. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m09.8363s + 0.2894s 7. Alex Tagliani Fazzt 1m10.6160s + 0.6563s 8. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m10.7836s + 0.8239s 9. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m10.6640s + 0.7043s 10. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m11.2080s + 1.2483s 11. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1m10.8175s + 0.8578s 12. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m10.3147s + 0.3550s
Fast Six
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Will Power Penske 1m09.3185s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m09.7506s + 0.4321s 3. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m09.7939s + 0.4754s 4. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m09.8470s + 0.5285s 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m10.0255s + 0.7070s 6. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m10.1618s + 0.8433s
Final grid line-up: Team Time 1. Will Power Penske 1m09.3185s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m09.7506s 3. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m09.7939s 4. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m09.8470s 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m10.0255s 6. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m10.1618s 7. Alex Tagliani Fazzt 1m10.6160s 8. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m10.7836s 9. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m10.6640s 10. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m11.2080s 11. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1m10.8175s 12. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m10.3147s 13. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m10.3722s 14. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m10.4259s 15. Mario Moraes KV 1m10.5093s 16. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.4586s 17. EJ Viso KV 1m10.5991s 18. Raphael Matos de Ferran/Luczo Dragon 1m10.5068s 19. Takuma Sato KV 1m10.7000s 20. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m10.5503s 21. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 1m10.8003s 22. Graham Rahal Fisher 1m10.7722s 23. Mario Romancini Conquest 1m10.9914s 24. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 1m11.4345s 25. Milka Duno Dale Coyne no time
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